Messages - justme

yep. I wrote a letter of complaint, mainly because it was handled very badly, and I really believed it affected my score. After the test I spoke to a couple different admissions offices and asked their advice, and most seemed to think writing a letter of complaint was a good idea. There's a deadline for when you can send LSAC a letter, however, and it means that you score report will be delayed. About a week after scores were released, I got a letter from LSAC giving me three options: cancel my score and retake in Feb at no cost; accept my score and have a copy of my letter included in my score reports to schools; or just accept my score. I choose the second, faxed it back to them. My scores were released the next day. On my answer sheet, I could see that half the questions I got wrong on the whole test were clustered around when the phone had rang. I retook in Feb though without doing too much extra prep, so I guess I'll know if there really was a difference.

SO to answer your questions Marnet, no, you can't just complain online. You have to fax or mail a letter. My complaint was about something internal to the administration of the test.

It's really up to you when to send it. The way I see it, if you send it now you risk sounding like a "spoiled brat" (for lack or a better word) if your score comes back high. The benefit of sending it now is your less likely to be perceived as trying to make excuses after the fact. If you wait until after scores are released, you get to decide if the committee should see your letter or not.

Personally, I'd send it in as soon as possible, make sure it's dated and gets there well before your scores do. But again, I'm no authority on the subject. I'd be curious if others have a different perspective.

If it helps, I'll tell you about my situation. I took the Dec LSAT, and a poorly handled cell phone call hurt my score (posted in another thread on this topic). Retook in Feb, even though most of the schools I applied to don't accept Feb scores. Right now I'm writing a letter so I can send it off as soon as I get the scores. I'm basially saying, look, I had this bad situation (which is noted in my LSAC file) so I retook in Feb, and even though it's late, I'd like you to consider this score in place of my Dec score. Don't know if it'll work, but I figure it can't hurt.

Of course if I end up having done worse, I'll have to just go hide under my bed for a bit.

Again, this is just me (hah!), and i'm not qualified to give advice any more the guy sitting out on the corner, but I'd focus on the flood. Everyone is anxious. You could write something like:

I'm writing to provide a brief explanation to why I think my performance on the Feb LSAT is not indicative of my ability to achieve at Podunk Law School. Naturally, I was anxious the night before the exam, and I've never been one to excel at standardized tests. Unfortunately, that was heightened when Podunkville recerived a massive snowstorm that caused extensive flood damage in my basement....

If you do want the committee to know you have a history with standardized tests and focus on that more, you shold be prepared to include evidence of past poor performance that did not correlate to your abilities as a student.

I used to work admissions for a competitive post-graduate program, in which we asked applicants to write an essay about a challenge they had overcome. The extent of tragedy wasn't important, though it was often both inspiring and depressing to read what some people had overcome. In reading these essays, I was more concerned that the applicant could put the obstacle in context and was able to achieve despite obstacles. I imagine law schools are interested in something similar.

You may have ended up doing better than you thought, and it will all be moot!

However, if you're worried, maybe send the school a short addendum (1/2 pg) explaining the situation before your scores are released. As long as you keep your tone explanative, and not excusatory, I donít think it can hurt.

i'd apply now. If when you get back your LSATs they tell you a different story, pull your application and apply to the other schools next year.

You could just get everything together and wait and see if you get your results before the of Feb. Though the official release date isn't until March 1, from what I understand, the scores are usually released a couple days before that.

the 101 questions thing is usually true, but not definitely. In the past decade or so, there has been at least one LSAT with 100 questions, and at least one with 102. Still, the vast majority have come ot 101.